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Should The 9/11 Museum Allow Parties?
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 21, 2014
Modified May 21, 2014
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Jin Lee for the 9/11 Museum
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 21, 2014
Modified May 21, 2014
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Condé Nast threw a private, "alcohol-fueled party" for 60 people and Michael Bloomberg at the 9/11 Museum last night. "They were drinking, eating and laughing when this is pretty much a gravesite,” one witness told the Daily News, referring to the remains of 1,115 unidentified victims that sit in a Medical Examiner's facility behind a wall that contains a large quote from Virgil.
“I don’t think alcohol should be allowed in there. It’s a sacred ground and they desecrated it,” the employee added, noting that the Musuem's information desk acted as a bar during the party and that NYPD and FDNY members were turned away from the Museum yesterday afternoon to prepare for the event.
Should the 9/11 Memorial serve as a gathering place for people to eat and drink? During the dedication ceremony last week, only water was served. The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument has two snack shops and a gift shop.
What about alcohol? The Holocaust Museum's café serves beer and wine with lunch.
Steve Kandell, who lost his sister on 9/11, wrote about visiting the private sanctuary in the Museum for Buzzfeed:
The presence of the tomb has been a point of contention among families more vocal than ours who want more from a final resting place than the basement of this museum of unnatural history. I don’t know how to feel about the matter because to do so would require any of this making even a bit of sense. It’s dumb, sure, but what could possibly be less dumb? Where is the right place to store pounds of unidentifiable human tissue so that future generations can pay their respects? I would not wish what’s happened to my family on anyone, but I begrudgingly admire its infinite weirdness, still, after all this time.
Tagged
9/11 memorial and museum
9/11 museum
conde nast
september 11
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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